Trust and Duty
by Jarakrisafis
Summary: "Trust me. I'm a doctor." You shouldn't, you REALLY shouldn't.


Characters/Pairings: First Aid, ?

Prompt: "Trust me. I'm a doctor." You shouldn't, you REALLY shouldn't.

Hey, how are you feeling?

Well. That's a question that could take a while to answer. I'm not sure there isn't a part of my chassis that hasn't got a damage report attached to it. Forcing my optics online I squint up at the medic, the features of First Aid slowly coming into focus, although it takes me a moment to recognise him without his surgical mask and visor. "Like I just got run over by a truck."

First Aid shakes his helm at my assessment. "You did. Motormaster got you." I track him as he fiddles with the readouts on the monitors surrounding my berth, his fingers tapping gently against the top of a diagnostic screen.

"Where's Ratchet?" The medbay is remarkable quiet and a quick check shows that I'm the only mech left.

"Recharging and Hoist is in the office doing reports. Ratchet kicked everybody else out before he left as none of them had serious injuries which needed monitoring." Ah. That explained the emptiness of the room. First Aid hops up to perch on the edge of my berth as he checks the energon feed that is hooked into my systems.

Much as I may enjoy the peace and quiet for a while, I know I won't appreciate it for a long period of time if I'm stuck here while I'm repaired. "When do you think I'll be able to get out of here."

"Soon." Aid says as he gets up again and pulls something out of his subspace. "I don't think you'll be here long at all."

Huh, maybe the damage isn't as bad as it doesn't feel like I'll be getting out of here anytime soon. Especially not with how many monitoring screens are around me and the fact that my libs have been locked down. That usually indicates some serious damage and Ratchet doesn't want his patient flopping around and causing him more work.

"What's that?" I ask as Aid adds something to one of the energon feeds with a practiced hand, the dark green liquid mixing in with the energon being pumped into my frame.

"Something to help you heal." He says as he stores the empty container in his subspace pocket, his other hand resting gently on on my pelvic armour for a brief moment before he wanders over to a bench, and whatever he was working on before I came back online.

**Warning, energon poisoning detected. Initiate purge?**

What? That's not good, not good at all. I send an affirmative towards the program.

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

"Aid? Need your help." The medic glances over as I call, his optics flickering towards the screens for a moment before he hurries over.

"S'okay. I just need to change something." He says as he manually retracts an armour panel, plugging a datacord into the exposed port. "There." He says after a moment of riffling around in my processor before withdrawing.

**Warning, energon poisoning detected. Initiate purge?**

_Yes_

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

What the Slag? Wasn't that what he just fixed?

"Whatever you did, it didn't help Aid. I'm getting a warning that I've detected energon poisoning."

"That's normal." He says as he wanders away again, totally unconcerned. "It just means it's working."

Right. Wonderful. Something that helps me by imitating poison, just what I always needed to make me feel better. But he doesn't seem to be overly upset about it so it can't be too bad.

**Warning, spark containment field losing coherency. Initiate stasis?**

_Yes._

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

Or it could be very bad. "Aid!"

"I told you, everything is fine." The slim fingers dance across my chassis as he double checks all the connections hooking me up to the monitors. Are they not registering that I'm having a minor issue of my spark chamber losing power?

"Fine! Fine? Aid, my spark containment is failing and you are telling me I'm fine?"

"Yes." He says so earnestly that I reset my optics and double check that my audio receivers are collecting data correctly. "Just a little longer."

No. In a little while I'll be deactivated, extinguished, deceased, falling into the pit, rusting in a junkyard. None of those I am particularly looking forward too.

**Warning, spark containment field at 80%. Initiate stasis?**

_Yes._

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

_Initiate emergency stasis._

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

_Initiate recharge cycle._

**Unable to comply, function locked, medical override in place.**

"Aid. Can you unlock the medical coding?"

He just looks at me, his blue optics focusing directly on mine as he stares, confusion crossing his features. "Why would I want to do that?" Even his voice is bewildered, clearly the thought that I would want to activate the failsafes that he has so carefully locked away not even occurring to him.

"Because you're going to extinguish me if you don't." You know, first lesson for apprentice medics, keep the patient alive. Not watch them slowly fade away in front of your optics after injecting something into their energon and then failing to do anything when the problem registers. Frag, shouldn't he have deep seated coding to prevent him causing any harm? If he does it's clearly not working.

**Warning, spark containment field at 60%. Initiate stasis?**

I don't try and answer the automated query this time. I already know what the answer will be. Instead I attempt to ping Hoist and Ratchet on my commlink. Only to have it bounce back, the now hated response popping up onto my HUD.

**Unable to comply, funtion locked, medical override in place.**

"That's what I just did earlier. I forgot to lock it down before you came online." First Aid says, apparently divining that I was trying to contact somebody for help. Now I know that this isn't a simple misunderstanding. It's not him simply missing something. He is deliberately leaving me like this.

"What are you doing?"

He shakes his helm in exasperation, speaking slowly as one would to a glitch processing sparkling. "Helping you."

**Warning, spark containment field at 40%. Initiate stasis?**

"Helping me?"

"Of course I am." One hand reaches out to smooth over the soft pliable metal of my cheek, tracing down around my jaw and over the plating on my shoulder, a strangely gentle gesture, so at odds with what he is doing. "You said you wanted the war to end."

Well, yes. Of course, doesn't every mech? But I hadn't meant like this, I meant a victory, or at least a ceasefire, a return to Cybertron, to rebuild. To see the great Assembly hall of Iacon again without the scars of war marring it's surface, to see the Towers returned to their former glory, to walk amongst the crystals of Praxus.

Not slowly fading away, unnoticed, unseen. "Not like this Aid. Not like this." No. If I had to fall in this war I would have liked to go out with guns blazing, to deactivate doing something worthwhile. What good will I do here? Spare parts? I can't help the chuckle that rips free of my frame, but there is no amusement in it, only the hysterical edge that comes with a life changing understanding.

I'm going to extinguish here.

**Warning, spark containment field at 20%. Initiate stasis?**

"Why?" If nothing else, at least let me know why you think I want this.

He smiles, bleak and bitter, "It is my duty to end all suffering."

Duty?

No. Oh no. How many more have been where I am now? How many more will follow?

Too late I understand.

Far too late.

For there is nothing I can do to warn my fellow mechs of the danger sitting so innocently in their midst.

**Warning, spark containment field at 10%. Initiate stasis?**

My optical input is fading and I flick through the various options, but they are all failing. My heat vision is blurring, the white centre of First Aid's core, his blue purple extremities, all blending into the ambient temperature of the medbay. Switching back I try to focus, but the world is being leached of colour, everything fading to a washed out grey.

"It's okay, trust me. You'll be safe with Primus."

**Warning, spark containment failure imminent.**


End file.
